1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer systems used for general or special purpose computing. More particularly, the invention concerns the administration of computer software environments utilized computer system users.
2. Description of the Prior Art
By way of background, many computer systems provide different levels of access to system users based on user privilege levels. Typically, there is at least one root user and one or more non-root users. The root user is a system administrator with administrative privileges to perform functions such as the installation of system software/patches, the configuration of system and network environment settings, etc. Non-root users normally do not have such privileges and therefore must rely on the system administrator make administrative-level configuration changes. In busy enterprises, requiring a user to communicate with a system administrator and possibly lobby or negotiate for a desired configuration change can be very disruptive. In some cases the configuration change might not be permitted because it is unsuitable for the other users. On the other hand, granting non-root users the right to perform system administration functions could compromise system stability and security.